"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'."
— Groucho Marx

May 20, 2007

Haveil Havalim- The Plain Edition

Who would have ever thunk a drive-in in Buffalo would be the headquarters for the 117th edition of Haveil Havalim. I suppose that using a drive-in dates me. It is probably a good 15 years since I last went to a movie at a drive-in.

Of course some of you come from homes in which you have never been to a movie in a theater let alone a private car or truck. They were fun, drive-in's that is.So maybe we should switch modes and move to something a little more modern such as this little doohickey below.

Go out and buy more Ipods. It will help keep Apple stock up and in turn you'll help keep a smile on Avrech's face, not to mention the good old Psycho Toddler who only recently joined the rest of us in using 21st century devices. ;)Anyway, you'll have to put up with one more comment or two from me. This is approximately the seventh time that I have hosted Haveil Havalim. I have never seen as big a response as I did this time. I easily received more than 130 submissions. Of course some of you sent me seven or eight submissions from your own blog. My apologies for not being able to use all of them.

One more special request. It would be greatly appreciated if you could link to this post on your blogs. The more exposure that HH receives the better.

And now on to our carnival. My apologies if it is not organized as well as it could be, it was a busy week.

Judith found the last edition of HH to be incredibly geeky. Let's hope that she like this one better. Here is the speech that George W. Bush should have given care of Kesher Talk.Some people question Yahoo!'s actions in removing a site.

I do not know if this will interest you but being an Aussie I love it.

John Howard (right) receives a certificate from JNF (Victoria) president Tom Borsky declaring a forest named in the PM's honour in the Negev.Photo: Sam Okun/Progressive Photography

ASHLEY BROWNE

PRIME Minister John Howard has spoken of his deep affection for Israel and the Australian Jewish community after being awarded the 2007 Jerusalem Prize at a dinner at Crown Palladium on Sunday night.

Howard told more than 1200 people that he was “tremendously” proud to receive the award, a joint initiative of the Zionist Federation of Australia, the State Zionist Council of Victoria and the World Zionist Organisation.

“I admire the people of Israel and the contribution to Australia by the Jewish community,” he said.

“They bring energy, verve and educational nous to our country and are engaged in all aspects of life. They are true sons of Australia.”

Howard’s address -- met with a standing ovation -- was surprisingly free of any discussion of the environment, given that the event was hosted by the Jewish National Fund, which is dedicating a forest in Israel’s northern Negev region in his honour.

He also spoke of the shared democratic ideals of Israel and Australia and defended his support of Israel during the construction of the security fence in 2004 and last year’s conflict with Hezbollah.

“Good friends stick together when it is unfashionable to do so,” he said.

The other keynote speaker of the evening was Brigitte Gabriel, the Lebanese Christian journalist, who is an outspoken supporter of Israel.

She spoke of her harrowing experience living as a young girl in a bomb shelter in Lebanon after her home had been destroyed, and of her support for Israel that followed the time she spent in the country alongside her injured mother, who was being treated in an Israeli hospital.

An estimated 100 protesters "greeted" guests on their arrival at the Crown complex, chanting pro-Palestinian slogans and accusing Israel of practicing apartheid.

Among the protesting groups was the Melbourne Palestine Solidarity Network.

Victoria Police and the Community Security Groups reported no incidents.

Howard has received numerous awards of late from Jewish groups, including the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce, the B'nai B'rith and Sydney's Jewish Communal Appeal.

Okay, I'm an idiot - I more or less can figure out *what* Haveil Havalim is ( posts that someone likes from recent blog entries..?) but er, what is it - is this some sort of round robin of specific bloggers that just agreed to do this every so often?HOw did I miss this up until now; did I just tune it out?